Finn ruled out of Ashes series with knee injury

Towering quick suffers torn cartilage in left knee and will fly home to the United Kingdom

Louis Cameron
07 November 2017

England's Magellen Ashes preparations have taken another hit after confirming unpredictable fast bowler Steven Finn will fly home due to injury.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Tuesday that Finn, a late call-up to the tourists' Test squad after vice-captain Ben Stokes was grounded due to his alleged involvement in a Bristol street brawl, has torn his left knee cartilage.

The towering quick will depart Australia for the United Kingdom to see a specialist and may require surgery after being hit in the nets while batting.

Finn sat out England's opening tour match against a Western Australia XI last weekend having been hit training at WA's Richardson Park on Thursday.

Anderson claims four in Ashes warm-up

The 28-year-old, part of England's Ashes touring squads in 2010-11 and 2013-14, had received an injection into the troublesome knee, according to England coach Trevor Bayliss, but subsequent scans confirmed the bad news.

With the ECB today also confirming the uncertainty surrounding Stokes' situation remains no closer to being resolved, England could be forced to turn to third-choice seamers such as Liam Plunkett – who has signed up to play in a ten-over tournament in the UAE in December – Tom Curran and Tom Helm to replace Finn in the Ashes squad.

Key allrounder Moeen Ali meanwhile continues to recover from a side injury, having last week been ruled out of England's tour matches at the WACA over the weekend and against the Cricket Australia XI in Adelaide beginning Wednesday.

He is expected to resume training ahead of England's final tour match in Townsville next week.

Louis Cameron is a Melbourne-based journalist. A former Victorian Bushrangers fast bowler, Louis joined the cricket.com.au team with assistance from the Australian Cricketers' Association's Internship Program in 2016.